Angela Merkel's decision in autumn 2015 to open the borders for refugees split the country - some praised the moral stance, others criticized the surrender of sovereignty. Yet what would appear to be well-planned activity is in reality a policy of muddling along, chance, trial and error. The Driven Ones is a chronicle of the refugee crisis which shows that the political actors are being driven along, crushed between self-imposed constraints and events that have spun out of control.
Franz and Lilly run their father's cattle farm together. While Franz is perfectly happy with his life as a cowboy, Lilly dreams of a bigger life. That's when she meets Chris, a musician, with whom she starts a romantic affair.
Painter Freddy lives with his wife and child on Lake Tegernsee and is working on his comeback until one day his life suddenly turns upside down: He is accused of beating up his wife and as a result of which he is said to have custody of his eight-year-old son withdrawn . But Freddy can not remember having committed the alleged acts and protests his innocence. In this grave crisis, Eddy appears, Freddy's childhood friend. Both look confusingly alike and Eddy immediately begins to interfere in Freddy's life, in which worse things happen. Only Freddy knows that he has a doppelganger, an imaginary one at that - how is he supposed to convince those around him that it is Eddy who is to blame for all the disasters? Freddy is slowly losing control of his life...
Inspired by real events, five friends struggle to cope with their frustrations and are compelled to violence as Weltstadt, a once-popular tourist spot, falls onto hard times following the reunification of Germany.
1942. The members of the Voß family, mother, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law, are living in a house at the river. A fellow soldier of son Paul, who fights at the eastern front, delivers his greetings and an embroidered Russian blouse for Emmi, Paul′s wife. Daughter Agnes, whose husband is also fighting in the war, receives a fur vest from the junior partner who is stalking her. Obviously, the vest is also loot from the eastern front. When the family receives news that Emmi′s husband has been killed in action, the war finally enters the house at the river. Emmi commits suicide while Agnes′s husband returns as a cripple from the war front. At home, he has to learn what a price his wife had to pay for the "Russian fur".
Last years in the Life of german Dramatican Georg Büchner. Around the year 1830 he and his fellow students try to initiate a revolution in Germany, but they are not successful. Büchner has to leave the country and seeks exile in France and Switzerland, where he falls ill with typhus.